Chris G. asks: We know that the coldest temperature is absolute zero. Is higher temperature also possible?
The idea of absolute hot springs comes from its more famous cousin, absolute zero, which as you may remember is 0K, -273.15°C or -459.67°F. And although there are abbreviated explanations to the minimum It is often said that temperature is the point at which matter stops moving, this is technically incorrect. Absolute zero is the point where molecular motion no longer produces heat (but has zero point energy).
Araouane, Mali – 130 degrees
Araouane is a small town in the Sahara on the way to Timbuktu (a real place!). Only 300 families live in this desert place.
The city most famous for being in the middle of nowhere, Timbuktu is also a hot spot. Timbuktu is located at the southern end of the Sahara desert, about 10 miles north of the Niger River. The city is surrounded by sand dunes and the streets are often covered in sand. With a record high of 130.
1 F (54.5 C), Timbuktu is one of the hottest places in the world.
The other side of absolute zero
But there is another way of looking at heat, which reverses the whole temperature issue.
Note that thermal energy describes the average motion between parts of a system. You only need a small percentage of your particles to fly around chaotically to qualify as “hot”.
Deja Vu: Another ridge of high pressure forecast for the western US next week
It’s July, the hottest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and ridges are coming very high anticyclonics. Julio has a good chance of setting all-time heat records. Unfortunately, the latest long-range forecasts from the GFS and European models indicate another unusually intense ridge of high pressure in the western United States, capable of removing more full-time American heat next week.
By a common measure, Monday’s 0Z European pattern execution predicts that the heat dome in the center of this high will be almost as strong as anything seen in the stock. Hot air expands in the lower levels pushing up the surface height of 500 millibars, around the center of the atmosphere. The model predicted a maximum of 500 mb from 599 decameters over Wyoming on July 20. The highest pressure of 500 millibars in Riverton, Wyoming, measured twice daily (surveys) since 1948, is 605 dm.